shelby-001

Tomorrow will be interesting... OH is home from work now so thankfully he will be able to come with for the discussions re surgery and treatment of the two cruciates. Have looked into crates for Lilly for the recovery period. I am not looking forward to that but definately looking forward to having my girl out of pain.

That was the first thing that jumped out at me as well.

Pers I was thinking the same thing, have just read lots about using carrot to assist! I will run with the roo tail or chicken carcass at breakky (will cut carcasses in half for her as the ones I get from leonards are quite meaty), and just give her tuna/sardines/salmon/roo mince with her supplements at dinner with one night a week with carrot (only coz she loves it and it's a bit of a treat for her) So a few days example of what I am thinking: . Breakky Dinner Day one - Small roo tail 1/2 x tin tuna (200g), spoon yoghurt, joint guard, flaxseed Day two - Half chick carc 250g roo mince, spoon yoghurt, joint guard, flaxseed Day three - Small roo tail 1/2 tin salmon (200g), spoon yoghurt, join guard, flaxseed Day four - Half chick carc 1 x cup carrot, 1 egg, spoon yoghurt, joint guard, flaxseed Treats I will limit to cow hooves for chews (they take forever to get threw) and dehydrated liver if I'm doing some stationary trick training with her. and so on. I use Jalna Low Fat, Omega 3 natural pot set yoghurt. I'm sure others will have other ideas and the vet already mention 'diet food' .... pfft that crap won't be entering their bodies.

Well weightloss is the first step, although she is only 26kg, the suggestion is to get her to 22kg and then reassess, so she will be getting a lot of grated carrot at dinner, LOL. Lucky for me she likes it :D Last night she got carrot, egg, a spoon of yoghurt, joint guard and flaxseed and she didn't seem to mind that it was over in 2 minutes flat. Breakky was the smallest piece of roo tail I could find. So I guess now I need to look at other 'fillers' that will make her full without 'feeding' her if that makes sense? Any thoughts on things like 'soup' mix cooked up (the split peas/beans etc)? Or anything else that's useful?

Ok so we went for the pre lim appointment with the chiro and turns out that since regular vet checked cruciates, she's managed to rupture both entirely. The guy I saw said the left leg was only done within the last week so there's no way they'd have been able to identify that and the right leg 'may' have been starting to go when they checked but would have been far from a full rupture based on how much scar tissue he could feel. When he told me that was the problem I said 'oh no no, we've checked that, bla bla bla' so he asked the timeline of events and symptoms and thats when he said what he thought about when she had done them, and that given the 'symptoms' she was presenting and the course of action taken, it wasn't a surprise it was no being over looked, but I should just go back to regular vet and discuss options and have them feel the cruciates again (thank god, he didn't imply the regular vet was a problem, he was actually very supportive of their position given all the circumstances). So I had a chat with one of the local (regular) vets this morning and we are popping in monday to discuss all our options.

Hey guys, SO we have had xrays and on the surface they appear clear. You could see swelling above (this is non technical layman's explanation) from roughly 3-9 vertebrae from the tail but all the bones appeared normal. No fractures or abnormal spacings, joint mice, spurs etc. The left hip socket was thought to be a little short by one vet but normal by another. Xrays have been forwarded to a specialist for further review as to the vet they were very inconclusive as they appeared so normal. In the meantime they have double her meds to provide her relief while we work out what's going on. As well her exercise is nil, she is only allowed to walk around the back yard. No running or playing. She is getting regular visits to gma n pops for some variation on surroundings. If the specialist gives the all clear on the xrays the vet is ok for me to take her to the chiro in the next town but was very stern in me holding off until they get back to us. Next step with the vet would be dye in the spinal tract and further xrays to look at obstructions etc as MRI is in brisbane over 1000kms away.

I wrote into their 'soapbox' in regards to them 'identifying' the dogs as brown pitbulls. Unless enough people write in though it will be taken with a grain of salt. I would suggest everyone here post a message via their soapbox in regards to the inaccuracy of their identification of breed and the sensationalism it creates. I would be very surprised if indeed they were 'brown pitbulls'.

Illegal here in QLD to sell it also, it must be bleached..... HOWEVER... if you can build a relationship with someone that butchers their own cows, there is now reason why they can't give it to you.

If I'm remembering correctly we used to rub it on one of my first dogs joints (rip shelby) .... it helped with the pain and mobility of it.

Spoke to the vet today in regards to xrays tomorrow, they are going to get them done for me tomorrow in their surgery time. I also noticed 'bunny hopping' this arve which I hadn't noticed before, so things really look to be getting worse as opposed to better Really hoping tomorrow gives some answers, whatever they may be. I'd rather be dealing with 'something' as opposed to not knowing what to deal with.

I know exactly how you feel. Lilly is going in for xrays in the morning. We noticed a limp near on 4 weeks ago now, watched it for a week, took her in and they did a prelim exam, decided she needed to be sedated to check cruciate. All appeared ok and we did restricted movement and anti inflamatories. It seemed to be coming good until 3 days ago and the 'limp' has progressed to the entire back end being favoured. She no longer 'sits' but flops to one side, does a lot of bunny hopping with her back legs as opposed to 'running' (if she is busting for a pee she gets up and 'runs' to go. Getting up and down is a problem, unless the reason for getting up is exciting enough then the goose seems to forget she is sore. Hopefully we get some answers tomorrow. I am kicking myself I didn't just request xrays when they sedated her for the cruciate examination.

Ok so nill use the joint guard on Boof and get glyde for lilly. I will get the local vet to do xrays and suss out what is going on, then with a copy of them will go see a dog chiro in the next town I think. Thanks guys

I believe you are right in that they take weeks to kick in, but if the do 'kick' in, I'd rather start now than in weeks time. Just wondered if I should change to Glyde or if Joint Guard was just as good. I have increased her dose of that already. Until the cold snap 3 days ago she appeared to be improving every day.... not so now! We have gone backwards bigtime in 3 days. We only have one vet surgery in town, but the next town is only half hour away and well worth the trip if I don't get results I am looking for. I like to support the local guys as a co business owner in town but at the end of the day if it was me at the doctor and I didn't like the 'treatment' I would go somewhere else so I most certainly will be for my Lil as well. She still runs on it fine (although I suspect that is adrenalin), we do limit her exercise but occassionally she sneaks a run in while I'm unawares. She had her first walk in 4 days this morning, so I am thinking this exercise probably stirred what ever it is up again. I don't even know what to think it could be??? Having 'ruled out' ligament issues and her joints having been checked. I guess in hindsight I should have demanded xrays when she was sedated for cruciate checking.

Hi guys, Long story short a few weeks ago we noticed Lilly limping on her right hind leg. After monitoring it for a week I decided a vet trip was in order. The vet had a preliminary exam of the leg and decided a sedation and thorough exam was appropriate to check the cruciates and joints. In the meantime we put her on Prolet (anti inflammatory and pain relief combination) and restrict movement. One week later and there had been improvement but we went ahead with sedation examination. Result was all seemed ok, and it appeared to be a muscle strain. Well we are now 2 weeks after the sedation and the poor thing is worse than ever. It has be VERY cold here (for us anyway), yesterday we didn't get about 14 degrees which is our 5th coldest max ever, so this is probably making the recovery longer/problem worse. Tonight when I picked them up after work from Gma n Pops (my folks) I went to put her front legs on the car and lift her in (as I normally do) and she yelped and rolled off her back legs onto her 'tailbone' into a weird sit. When I pickedher up entirely and put he in the back (I have a holden combo, so a low small van) she wouldn't put any weight on the right hind leg. Now she has done this 'yelp' and roll on to tail bone twice when we have been walking, the first time I thought an ant bit her foot as she nawwed at it, but she did it again this morning. I intend to make an appointment Tuesday and request the senior vet (she also owns the surgery) for her to look at Lilly. In an endeavour to help her the best I can though I am wondering what people's thoughts are as to whether Glyde of Joint Guard is better? I have joint guard at the moment, but have only be giving it to them every second day as a supplement as opposed to a treatment. My plan is to go with one or the other and increase for Lilly to the 'treatment/initial' dose and also add aloe vera juice to her meals. Any advice and thanks for the time in reading my long winded post!

If they are for personal use only you can put the on home and contents. I have Suncorp Platinum insurance and unless the individual item (so lens or body of flash) is worth $4999.00 or less, I do not have to list it separately, just have to have the proof of ownership if it is 'lost' or obviously the damaged item if that is what happened.

Boof n Lil like them, they don't go nuts for them, there are a number floating around the back yard that when they feel like a 'chew' they go find and just lay there nawwing on it. Never had a drama.... they are Amstaff's so most things dissappear pretty quickly!

we walk in the morning..... if they are tired from the get go they are better behaved and they go to bed earlier they have their own crazy play about 5.30 every day in the arve and that's enough to get rid of any energy they've built up from a day of sleep I also try and fit in 2 10 minute training sessions each dog, each day

Hey Raya, We have two Amstaffs... Boof n Lilly. They are from the same parents but out of different litters. If you find the Amstaff Pics thread it is a little more active How old is Minx? Boof is 19 months old and Lilly is 12 months on Thursday Cheers Aleesha

Yep I have one that reacts to all kibble and the other I could feed anything and she'd thrive. Bit like me and the OH actually, he eats anything and everything and is the epitome of health, I can't eat half the food in the world, processed being the worst, LOL. This world is funny. I'm always told there was a reason I ended up with Boof, something about being sympathetic to his needs.

My two look at me like 'you threw it stupid, you go get it', LMAO.... they are so not into fetch!

I give my two Amstaffs Buffalo Pizzles, the long ones they are about 40cm long and provide a nice long rewarding chew. They normally (8/10 times) go nuts when I give them out and run around like crazy, an added bonus as it burns a little physical energy as well. We have a walk first up, bout half an hour and about a 5 minute stop for some off site training. Once home hey generally jump in their pool for a few minutes (or now it's winter sunbake) and then get comfy. While I'm eating my breakky I let them rest. Then when I'm done they get their breakky.... it's ALWAYS something they have to go off and 'work on'. The easiest they ever get is a chicken frame. But I give them frozen roo tail, lamb shanks, pork hocks etc.... they go off an eat and I go get ready for the day. When they are done and I am done, they get their individual obedience training for the morning, bout 10 minutes each out on the front foot path. Once we are done, they are generally ready for a sleep. They are tuckered out til after lunch. If I'm going out, I hide the buffalo pizzles so they find them when they wake up. I always hide the two of them together coz as soon as one finds them the other is right there to suss it out. They take them a good 20 minutes to chew (but like I said above they normally go rank running around first). Sometimes I only hide pigs ears. Or I put pig snouts in the sand pit for them to dig out. After they've found and had their 'chew play' they go back to sleep. Bout 5pm they are up and they have a crazy play.... they go NUTS for bout half an hour, round n round the yard, dig in the sand pit, barrel each other, chase each other, it's FULL ON. I give them another training run when I get home from work (I do a 2 hour shift 5.30-7.30pm) weekdays, bout 5-10 minutes each in the back yard. Then they get dinner. Some nights they go straight off to sleep after that, other nights they play til 10pm. That's how I keep two amstaffs out of trouble, LOL

Yeah I will go early n speak to a couple together. Yeah mine get walked in harnesses attached to my walking belt. I think I'll try putting their check chains on with a long lead for corrections n see how I go

Ok so off we went last night..... obedience wise, they did quite well again, not perfect but quite good. We progressed to a 'drop' command (yay I'd already taught that so they did it well ;) ) We worked on walking back through the dog to encourage it to drop back and take your lead and we furthered the 'Stay' command with a longer wait in front. BUT.......... Boofy had a moment, we were basically at the end of session one and one of the other groups walked past ours from the back field. We were in a drop position listening to the trainer speak, I was crouched beside him. He sat up (into my legs kind of thing) and started making this funning whingey noise (not a growl or bark, it was an odd sound) and his bum was vibrating (shaking I guess) the trainer asked what set him off (I had NO idea - there was one dog playing up in the group that walked past). The session finished and we went for a walk behind the sheds, did some commands he knows well so was guaranteed to get praise for. Come back around, chatted to a couple of trainers (they thought it might have been a stress attack). Headed back through the mirriad of dogs and found OH and Lilly and he was fine for the second session. NOW... I have a question We do our 'practise' a couple of times a day in short bursts of what we have learned, but when I walk them in the mornings I still harness them and take them together. They seem to be worse than before we started for trundling beside me nicely. Is this because they are confused maybe? Should I start walking them separately in the mornings? Thanks for reading guys, any other feed back would be wonderful! I've never done this 'obedience' thing before it's all new and we are all learning!

I agree LeeLaa, I own two Amstaffs and I would have NO hesitation in going through a licencing process or compulsory obedience etc to ensure I could happily keep my dogs and therefor anyone with a dog and no licence would be fined and dealt with just as someone without a licence driving a car is. The only thing I would like to see implemented that this is for dogs kept in suburbia. I believe you should be able to apply for an exemption to have working dogs on a property without the strict laws.

Yes Pretty Miss Em, I was warned by a number of the regulars it's a little addictive. We have been training and funny enough Lilly is proving a better pupil than Boof at this point. Boof kind of looks like, 'why are we doing this, I know how to walk beside you and not pull you over with the lead, this is stupid' LMAO while Lilly is just eager to please and hopes like hell if she does the right thing she'll get a pat or even better a treat. Tonight is night two, so we shall see if it was beginners luck or if we are on a winner.